Five-term lawmaker’s committee record and 2023 speakership bid make him a contender for higher office in the 11th Assembly
By Michael Olukayode
The recent exchange over the stewardship of Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara has done more than test his record. It has reopened a larger question: what can an experienced lawmaker deliver for his people when he holds greater institutional responsibility?
Betara has represented the Biu, Bayo, Kwaya-Kusar and Shani Federal Constituency of Borno State since 2007. Across five consecutive terms, he has occupied some of the most strategic committee positions in the House of Representatives.
That record places him among the ranking members whose experience could shape the House’s future leadership.
The debate was sharpened by Dr James Bwala’s opinion article, “Beyond Politics: The Betara Leadership Question – An Independent Assessment of Hon. Muktari Betara Aliyu”. He wrote it in response to an open letter by Habib Mohammed Biu, which questioned aspects of the lawmaker’s representation.
Bwala accepted that constituents have every right to demand accountability. He argued, however, that Betara’s performance should not be judged solely by immediate local expectations, without regard to his wider legislative responsibilities.
Betara’s legislative journey provides context for that argument.
In his first term, he chaired the Sub-committee on NDIC, Banking and Currency, and the Sub-committee on Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office. He also served on the Committee on Interior.
In the 7th Assembly, he chaired the Committee on Army at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency. In the 8th Assembly, he moved to the Committee on Defence. His most prominent assignment came in the 9th Assembly, when he chaired the Committee on Appropriations, the engine room of the federal budget process.
He now chairs the Committee on the Federal Capital Territory in the 10th Assembly.
Few members have held such a succession of strategic posts. Each reflects the confidence of successive House leaderships in his capacity.
That experience came into sharp focus in the contest for Speaker of the 10th House. Betara declared his interest in April 2023 and quickly emerged as a leading contender.
Contemporary reports by The Guardian cited his experience, accessibility and relationships with colleagues as sources of strength among returning and newly elected members.
The contest changed course after the All Progressives Congress (APC) zoned the position to the North-west. On June 11, 2023, Betara and Hon. Yusuf Gagdi stepped down after meeting President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima. This cleared the way for Hon. Tajudeen Abbas to emerge as Speaker and Hon. Benjamin Kalu as Deputy Speaker.
The withdrawal was widely seen as putting party cohesion above personal ambition. It did not diminish the significance of his candidacy. It confirmed the standing he had built among his colleagues.
Betara’s political standing also rests on his constituency record.
His interventions across the four local government areas have reportedly spanned infrastructure, education, healthcare, rural electrification, agriculture, youth empowerment and social support.
A 2023 profile in The Guardian reported 20 health centres, 10 ambulances, a mini stadium and more than 600 solar-powered streetlights. A THISDAY report in July 2025 cited more than 48 blocks of classrooms and transformers supplied to over 289 communities. It also cited healthcare facilities, scholarships, medical assistance and programmes in skills acquisition, entrepreneurship and agriculture.
Bwala also pointed to Betara’s support for young people struggling with Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration costs.
These projects matter in communities where basic infrastructure and social services remain scarce, provided they are sustained and maintained.
His constituents have shown their appreciation at the polls. In 2022, delegates from the four local government areas returned him unopposed as the APC candidate. Reports at the time said constituents bought his nomination forms themselves.
At his homecoming in Biu in May 2026, supporters, youth groups and women’s associations turned out in large numbers.
Betara himself was candid on that occasion. He credited his time as Appropriations chairman with attracting development to the area. He also named the long-awaited Gombe-Biu road as a major outstanding need, admitting that more work remained.
That admission matters. Constituency development is an ongoing responsibility, not a completed assignment.
Bwala made a further point that deserves attention. Responsibility for development does not rest on one individual. Senators, state officials, local government authorities and community leaders also owe obligations to the people.
On questions raised about financial support to political associates and entertainers, he urged that they be examined in context, while insisting that public resources must remain open to scrutiny.
None of this places Betara above criticism. It argues for judging his service in full: what he has delivered, the responsibilities he has carried and the obligations still outstanding.
For a constituency of four local government areas, having a representative with access to the House’s inner circle is a real advantage.
Principal officers and senior committee chairpersons shape legislative coordination, policy direction, parliamentary administration and oversight. Influence at that level can draw federal attention to neglected needs, such as the Gombe-Biu road and the wider development of Southern Borno.
Betara’s record in Appropriations, Army and Defence, together with his current role on the FCT Committee, gives him an institutional background few members can match.
Any such prospect lies with the 11th Assembly. It depends first on his constituents returning him in 2027, and then on the zoning and consensus that typically decide the House’s leadership. Neither is guaranteed.
The question surrounding Betara is therefore no longer whether he has contributed to his constituency. It is how his experience and standing can be converted into greater opportunities for the people he represents.
His supporters can point to a substantial record. His constituents retain the right to demand more.
For a lawmaker who has spent nearly two decades in the Green Chamber and once contested its highest office, higher responsibility is a natural part of the conversation about his future. If it comes, it will raise the bar: he will have to show that legislative influence delivers tangible benefits for the nation and the people of Biu, Bayo, Kwaya-Kusar, and Shani.